B Plus Movies

When I was but a lad of six years old, my babysitter wanted to take me to a movie. I was very okay with this and we shuffled off to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Alas, Close Encounters wasn’t quite out yet, so we decided to watch the movie that was playing.

This is how I ended up seeing, in the theatre, The Kentucky Fried Movie.

Besides being an argument for expanded parental guidance warnings, The Kentucky Fried Movie is a series of short bits, most of which have nothing to do with one another. The film hit on themes of the day and 70’s pop culture references, including the energy crisis, kung fu movies and cheesy porn. The humor is driven by puns, sexual innuendo and weird sight gags.

The movie was under-financed and this may be both part of its charm as well as it’s downfall. Watching it thirty years later (pause for a moment while I cry a little) the humor is still there, but is a little stale in the 21st century. The pacing of the film is a few degrees off, something a little extra editing might have fixed. The actors, pretty much anyone the could grab to work for next to nothing, do a respectable job but the lack of Oscar nods to this pictures stars is not without reason.

If I were to do this movie justice, I’d rate each skit on it’s own, but as I’m not trying to write a novel here, I’ll just mention the hightlights:

• Fistful of Yen- The center of the film is a spoof of Enter the Dragon. This is the best bit in the film and if you’ve seen Bruce Lee’s classic, you’ll laugh. If not, you’ll still laugh.
• Catholic High School Girls in Trouble- A trailer for a fake porn movie, it has genuine giggle generating moments even if it’s not really that far off from a real porno ad.
•  The News Bulletins- If anything ties this picture together, it’s the news announcer coming on and saying “Film at 11″. If anything dates this picture, it’s the bad suit that the announcer wears.

Is this movie worth renting? Yes.

Is it worth watching all at once? Not so much.

The reason this format wouldn’t fly post Y2K is that we have YouTube now. Admittedly, you can’t show boobs on YouTube but if you overlook that, The Kentucky Fried Movie is like a prototype of the internet’s best time waster. Funny video clips are visual equivalent of a bag of Reese’s cups: one or two and you’re satisfied, three or four seems indulgent, but more than that and you start feeling a little sick.

Despite fond memories of my babysitter trying to shield my eyes with a popcorn box once she realised what it was we were watching, I have to give the Kentucky Fried Movie a C. If you find this one on special it might be worth having, but I wouldn’t consider one’s life unfulfilled if you miss it.

(Unless you’re me. Then you’d be sad for not having had gone out with a really pretty 18 year old girl, even if you were only six.)

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